On Wednesday 18th June, there will be an opportunity for Oxford academics and researchers to debate the issues around scholarly monographs and Open Access. Both publishers and funders will be in attendance, with speakers including Geoffrey Crossick (HEFCE project, Chair), Cecy Marden (Wellcome Trust), Frances Pinter (Knowledge Unlatched) and Rhodri Jackson (OUP; OAPEN-UK project). At the end of the forum there will be a Questions and Answers panel joined by Sally Rumsey (Oxford Research Archive), which should provide for further discussion of the current challenges and initiatives in Open Access monograph publishing. It is anticipated that the dialogue of the forum will feed into HEFCE’s Monographs and Open Access project.

The event will be held at the Radcliffe Humanities Lecture Room between 2-5:30pm. All are welcome, but booking is advised. For further details on the forum and securing your place, see the poster below or visit http://courses.it.ox.ac.uk/detail/TZ005.

Open Access session for historians

Open Access for historians (Wed 5 June, 13.00-14.00) (wk 7)If you are an RCUK-funded academic, researcher or student, or are research support staff or an administrator then you will need to know about the recent changes to Open Access (OA). Aimed at historians, this informal session will outline the key open access issues, Gold vs Green routes, publishers’ policies of key history journals, sources of information and support. No booking is required.

WISER Information Skills sessions

WISER: Electronic resources in Theology and Philosophy (Wed 5 June 14.00-15.30) (wk 7) – This presentation is especially suitable for undergraduates preparing to work on a thesis or extended essays. It will also serve as a refresher, for all levels of study and research, covering Bibliographical databases, Primary texts and Bible studies, and will include new databases such as 20th Century Theologians.
Venue: Graduate Training Room, Radcliffe Humanities.
Presenters: Hilla Wait > Book now

WISER: Information Sources for African Studies (Fri 7 Jun 9.15-10.45) (wk 7) – This session will cover finding tools for locating African Studies materials, key portals and gateways for African Studies and online archives of primary texts. Starting with a presentation the session will also include time for participants to try out some of the resources demonstrated.
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road.
Presenters: Lucy McCann and Sarah Rhodes > Book Now

WISER: Mendeley for Reference Management (Fri 14 Jun10.15-12.15) (wk 8) – Mendeley is a relatively new reference management tool and one which is receiving a great deal of extremely positive feedback. It does all the things that traditional reference management packages do (for example allowing you to build up a database of citations and insert them into word processed documents) but also has collaborative features for researchers. This session will be of interest to anyone looking for an alternative to Endnote and RefWorks as well as those who are new to reference management.
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road.
Presenter: Oliver Bridle > Book Now

Training opportunities in the Bodleian Libraries

During the next few weeks, the Bodleian Libraries will running workshops on open access, sources for historians, RefWorks and reference managements:

Open Access Oxford – What’s Happening? (various dates – see below) Researchers in receipt of grants from RCUK funding councils issued after 1April 2013 are required to make their research papers open access. Come along to one of our briefing on open access to find out about Green vs. Gold open access publishing; funder mandates and publisher policies; the Oxford Research Archive (ORA) and Symplectic; and how to find more information and help on open access. Who are these sessions for? These session are open to current members of Oxford University only and are designed for research support staff, librarians, academics and researchers.

WISER Workshops

WISER: Online Resources for Historians (Tue 28 May 9.15-10.30) (wk 6)– A general introduction to the vast range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods for British and West European history including bibliographical databases, biographical and reference research aids, e-books and ejournals, web portals and collections of online primary source materials. > Book Now

WISER: Sources for US History (Tue 28 May 10.45-12.15) (wk 6) – Introduction to key information sources for the study of colonial America and US history up to 1990. Starting with finding tools to locate material, examples of source materials will then be shown including archival, microform, printed/online collections and useful web portals and audiovisual collections. > Book Now

WISER: Information Sources for African Studies , Fri 7 Jun 9.15-10.45 (TT week 7) – This session will cover finding tools for locating African Studies materials, key portals and gateways for African Studies and online archives of primary texts. Starting with a presentation the session will also include time for participants to try out some of the resources demonstrated. > Book Now

WISER: Sources for Medievalists, Wed 12 June 14.00-16.00 (TT week 8)This interdisciplinary session will provide a general overview of e-resources relevant for British and Western European medieval studies. It will cover bibliographical databases, biographical and reference tools, web portals and collections of online primary source materials including Anglo-Saxon sources, Greek/Latin texts, chronicles, charters and literary works. > Book Now

RefWorks for Humanities (Wed 29 May 9.15 – 12.15) (wk 6) – RefWorks is an online tool which allows you to manage your references, insert them into your work, automatically generate bibliographies and easily switch between citation styles. This introduction is open to all, but the section on importing references will focus on Humanities examples.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics and undergraduates wishing to use reference management software > Book Now

This session is primarily aimed at 2nd year History Undergraduates and will give a basic introduction on how to use RefWorks for your dissertation and will highlight some of its key features. The session is also open other postgraduates and academics in the History Faculty. > Book now

WISER: Tech Tools – Reference Management (Fri 31 May 9.15-12.15) (wk 6) – Keeping track of your references and formatting them correctly for your thesis or publication is a chore. Reference management software makes it easy and is worth investigating. This introductory session gives an overview of how it works and the pros and cons of RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics and undergraduates wishing to use reference management software > Book Now

Training opportunities in the British Library

Finding Early Western Printed Books in the British Library (4 June, 11:00-12:15). This is a new workshop offered by British Library Rare Books Reference Specialists. It provides an overview of reference resources which can help trace hard-to-find early printed material (ca.1455- ca.1900) and enhance using the Library’s main catalogue, Explore the British Library.

Information Skills-Navigating research in the British Library (15 May and 12 June, 3-4pm). This course covers the basic skills needed for someone starting a research project. It will show you how to locate information on your subject within the British Library Collections.

If you are an RCUK-funded academic, researcher or student, or are research support staff or an administrator then you will need to know about the recent changes to Open Access (OA). Aimed at historians, this informal session will outline the key open access issues, Gold vs Green routes, publishers’ policies of key history journals, sources of information and support.

If you are an RCUK-funded academic, researcher or student, or are research support staff or an administrator then you will need to know about the recent changes to Open Access (OA). WISER: Open Access Oxford – what’s happening? is a briefing sessions on open access for research publications and Oxford’s position: Green vs. Gold; funder mandates and publisher policies; Oxford Research Archive (ORA) and Symplectic; new OA website/ helpline.

Following the rapid developments in Open Access (OA) in recent months and the implementation of the RCUK OA guidelines on 1 April 2013, it is important for researchers to be fully informed of the proposals, what it means for them and what they need to do.

If you are in receipt of RCUK funding (e.g. AHRC) or Wellcome Trust funding, you will need to comply with their OA publishing guidelines. There are two permitted routes to publishing under Open Access:

Gold route (Author-pays or Author Processing Charge APC): a fee is paid to the publisher to make the article freely and immediately accessible. Authors should apply to the University for APC funding. The RCUK policy currently mandates use of the Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ license CC-BY (see below).

Green route (institutional repository): a refereed, but un-copyedited version is deposited in a local institutional repository (e.g. ORA in Oxford) after an embargo period of 12 months for arts and humanities. This is University of Oxford’s preferred route. At the start, an embargo period of 12/24 months will be acceptable but it is expected that withinn 5 years the norm of 6/12 months will apply.

Below are key information resources for historians and a list of key history journals.

Open Access Oxford

The official Open Access website for Oxford University, it provides information about the University’s position on Open Access (Green Route wherever possible), give practical guidance on how to deposit using the Gold Route, how to apply to APC funding, OA requirements of major funders, news, blog and local support.

It also advertises WISER briefing sessions on Open Access. OA Oxford posts updates on Twitter as @oaoxford.

Oxford Research Archive (ORA)

Oxford’s institutional repository, ORA was established by the University some years ago as a permanent and secure online archive of research materials produced by members of the University of Oxford. It provides a means for institutional compliance with funders’ Open Access requirements (Green Route).

Creative Commons (CC)

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. It provides a choice of six licenses which sit alongside copyright laws. Two types of licenses are relevant for OA:

CC-BY (Attribution) is the RCUK’s preferred option. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation

CC-BY-NC (Noncommercial). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

About to submit an article? Quick step-by-step guide

Was your research funded by RCUK, e.g. AHRC, and do you acknowledge their funding? If yes, you will need to comply with their policy on Open Access. Usually, in order to comply with your Funder’s requirements you need to deposit your article as eitherGold CC-BY or as Green 12 months embargo, post-print, CC-BY-NC. For upto 5 years, it is possible that your funder may exceptionally accept a 24 month embargo. Please check.

If your journal is not already an Open Access journal, then see if can publish under the Green route. Using SHERPA/FACT, check if the publisher of your preferred journal allows you to publish the refereed version of your article in an institutional repository. Make sure that the journal article embargoe time in ORA complies with the funder’s policy (currently 12 months).

Note: “RCUK will consider only versions ‘as accepted for publication’ when assessing compliance with its policy.”

If you can go down the Green Route, then self-deposit the accepted post-print / post-refereed version by contributing to ORA or using Symplectic. Note that libraries will be continuing to subscribe to electronic journals, so the article will be accessible during the embargo period and thereafter via SOLO.

If you can’t go down the Green Route, you must go down the Gold Routein order to comply with RCUK.

Key History journals and their self-archiving policies

Check your embargo details and funder’s policy. They vary!

Note regarding versions. “RCUK will consider only versions ‘as accepted for publication’ when assessing compliance with its policy.”

OUP definition of post-print: “A post-print is the final draft author manuscript, as accepted for publication, including modifications based on referees’ suggestions but before it has undergone copyediting and proof correction.”

The list below is constructed from SHERPA/FACT (last checked 27 April 2013). Double-check if needed.

Awebsite designed to support the research community with information about Open Access at Oxford has now been launched and is available at http://openaccess.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

The website includes information about

Open Access publications – key definitions and background

Open Access at Oxford – what you need to know, including Oxford’s response to the RCUK Open Access policy

Guidance on how to make your publications Open Access at Oxford – including emphasis on self-archiving material in the Oxford Research Archive (this section will be much enlarged as we receive further guidance from RCUK – with further information on ‘what you need to do’ for each individual sponsor)